Nebraska Baseball Overwhelms Cloud County CC 22-2

The Nebraska baseball team was back at it this weekend, taking on their 2nd and final opponent of the Fall Ball season in Cloud County CC on Saturday. The teams agreed upon a 12 inning matchup with the majority of starters going between 7-9 innings. This game actually felt like fall too, not the 96 degree scorcher like the week before against Omaha. We saw a lot of first time players and new guys make their first notable contribution in scarlet and cream.

Pitching and Defense

Caleb Clark climbed the mound to start the Huskers’ scheduled 12 inning contest against Cloud County CC, and set the tone right away against the T-birds. Clark faced the minimum 6 batters over his 2 innings, allowing 1 hit, but picking that runner off, and tallying 4 strikeouts.

It was a dominant performance by the pitching staff as they allowed 2 runs, with only 1 being earned over the full 12 innings. Multiple players made their debut in a Husker uniform on the mound, and each one turned in a solid outing.

Nebraska followed up Clark with 3 straight freshmen. Tucker Timmerman made his 2nd appearance of the fall. While his velocity was down a bit, and he gave up some solid contact, including the games only earned run in his first inning of work, he bounced back and had a solid 2nd inning. One thing in particular that he showed was a great pickoff move. Probably the best right handed move since Matt Waldron, though its not worth mentioning quite in that same league yet.

Ty Horn came in for the 5th inning and mixed in his 93 mph fastball and what looked to be a late breaking curve ball. He did allow a walk, but struck out 2 in his scoreless inning of work, as the CC batters just could not get a good read on him.

Next up in the trio of freshman was the pitcher tabbed as the top in the class by most services in Ryan Harrahill out of Elkhorn North. He had everything working. Was calmly hitting 94-95 on the gun and bringing both a backdoor breaking ball and a breaking ball in the dirt to get 2 Ks. He was close to striking out the side, as he had a 1-2 count on a batter, but the base runner from the 1 hit he gave up took off for 2nd on a ball in the dirt, and was swiftly gunned down by Husker catcher Ben Columbus.

Next out of the bullpen was a new Husker, but someone who has pitched and had success on the Hawks Field mound multiple times. Former Omaha closer Rans Sanders gave up a lead off single who came all the way around to score an unearned run thanks to a passed ball followed by two productive outs. Sanders then struck out the last batter to end the inning.

Austin Berggren induced 3 pop ups for a quick 9^th inning. Giving way to freshman Carson Jasa, who has been billed as having the most electric fastball out of al the newcomers. And he delivered. It hit 96 routinely on the radar gun. Jasa faced some adversity early, giving up back to back hits along with a wild pitch. He did rally to induce two groundouts and a strikeout to post a scoreless inning.

A pair of JuCo transfers finished off the last two innings for Nebraska as two way player Evan Borst made quick work of the T-Birds with a 1 pitch out followed by back to back strikeouts. Casey Daiss struggled with control in the 12^th, hitting a batter and throwing a wild pitch, but not allowing a hit or run.

Now for something completely different

But enough about the pitchers! The Husker offense had a banner day as well, and like the pitching, got off to a hot start early. Case Sanderson continued his hot fall, hitting a single and allowing a Dylan Carey to come around to score due to a throwing error, the first of 5 errors for Cloud County on the day. Then Junior first baseman Tyler Stone uncorked a no-doubter for the first of 5 Nebraska home runs on the day.

He was the lone new Husker to reach the proverbial bleachers, Senior catcher Ben Columbus hit a 3 run bomb down the right field line, his 3rd home run in the 4 fall ball games he’s had in his 2 years on the team. Fellow senior outfielder Cole Evans added a solo shot.

Redshirt freshman outfielder Hayden Lewis provided a 2 run dinger of his own. Lewis is the latest Husker to hail from Yutan, NE, a small town that has been kind to the baseball team. Dustin Timm pitched on the team from 2001-05, playing in some big time games for some of the best teams to don scarlet and cream. It also produced Nate Fisher, who pitched from 2015-19, and then made the major leagues.

The biggest star of the day on offense comes as no surprise. Dylan Carey looks like he’s making the next step from promising freshman to team leader. Carey went 3 for 6 on the day, slugging a 3 run home run and a pair of doubles. He drove in 5 runs and scored 4 times as well. He also looked much more natural playing the short stop position than he had in his previous outings. His confidence has to be at an all time high.

Cayden Brumbaugh struggled a bit, going 1-4 on the day at the top of the Husker lineup. New centerfielder and 2 hole hitter Riley Silva continued to impress as he went 2-4 with a double and run scored. He also continues to do his best Casey Burnham impression, getting HBP, and stole another base. It looks as though the top two batters are going to be let loose on the base paths.

Looking Ahead

Nebraska has the Red-White series coming up this week, now moved up to Oct 9-11th.